Since the 2012 Recruitment thread was so well received, I have decided (a bit later this year) to update this for 2013. I have expanded the Social Media Sections and updated all the dates. So let the games begin and my the odds be forever in your favor.
Registration
Make sure you register for recruitment. Online recruitment registration begins Monday, May 20, 2013 and concludes at 5 p.m. on Monday, August 12, 2013. Paper applications will not be accepted. This is very generous window. Don’t come here on August 5 and ask about letters of recommendation, etc, because it will be too late. The time to do that is now.
Letters of Recommendation
YES you need them. So this does not turn into a three page post, if you don’t know a soul who was ever in a sorority (not likely, but there is always someone that comes here and claims that) register with your local panhellenic organization and they will help you get a letter for each house. Greek Chat is NOT the place to hunt and gather letters. In Texas, the UT Office of Greek Life lists these local organizations here…
http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/gli...pc_alumnae.php
Now go register with them and again…THEY will help you. Please do not confuse registering with them and registering with UT as the same thing. They are different. You should register with your local alumnae first, UT second. Why? Because your LOR should be written before UT registration even opens.
Even more about LOR
Please make sure you take the resume you used to apply to UT and fancy it up and have it ready for your local panhellenic. You will need at least 14 copies of it. They are here to help you but they are not your administrative assistants. You need your transcript too. Grades matter and to UT sororities they matter even more. If your GPA is below 3.5, you will already be on the short list before recruitment even starts. You will also need two photos of yourself. A close up. A full body shot. If you are sending hard copies to someone who is writing your LOR, they will need your resume, transcript and both pictures. You will probably not get them back so do yourself a favor and upload good photos of yourself to Costco and have plenty on hand. (This should be less than $20 and if that kills your budget, you may want to rethink sorority life) Put your name and contact information on the back of each and every one. (Note: some ladies will have you email your photos, transcript and resume. If you don’t know how to attach things to an email, you need to learn this skill A.S.A.P.)
One last note about LOR.
Please take the time to thank each and every lady that writes a letter for you. The letters take time and the good ones take research. Not thanking them is bad form. Also, make sure you drop a note after recruitment to the person who you now share a sisterhood with. She should find out from you. And if you really want to be like Emily Post, a quick email to every lady that wrote for you telling them where you pledge is always welcome.
Contact with Chapters (New for 2013)
Sorority women that hold leadership positions in their respective chapters are very busy women and even more busy during the sorority’s respective work weeks and of course during recruitment week itself. So why do I mention this? You do not, in any way, increase your odds of standing out in a positive way by sending emails to Presidents, Vice Presidents of Recruitment or Directors of Recruitment. 95% of questions that come from PNMs can be answered with the world’s most basic research. The women in these positions are bright, intelligent women, and they expect the same standard from you.
The When and Where:
Formal recruitment always occurs the week before classes start in the fall semester. For 2013, recruitment will be held August 20-August 27, 2013 and the schedule will be as follows:
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Opening Convocation @ Hogg Auditorium
8:00 PM-9:30 PM
(If you are living in SRD or Hardin, this will be your move in day also. Get to your dorm early..if they say move in starts at 9:00, get there at 8 or earlier, get your stuff done and find time to chill before convocation. Look nice, but you don’t have to get dressed up. Girls will be in everything from Nike shorts to sundresses but make sure your hair looks nice and you have make up on if you normally wear it.)
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Open House Day 1
10:00 AM-7:00 PM
(For both Open House days, you will be given a T-shirt to pair up with khaki shorts. They recommend tennis shoes, but many, many girls will wear sperry’s or sandals, and wear a belt. It just looks more finished)
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Open House Day 2
8:30 AM-2:30 PM
First Round of selections this afternoon
Friday, August 23, 2013
Pick Up schedules from counselors @ 11:00 AM (Your counselor and your group will have pre-determined meeting locations….typically in or around Hogg)
Philanthropy Day 1
12:20 PM-9:35 PM
(Sundresses)
Saturday, August 24, 2013
8:30 AM-4:15 PM
Second round of selections this afternoon. This selection narrows the houses down to a maximum of 6.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Pick Up schedules from counselors @ 12:30 PM (again, max schedule of 6 houses)
Skit Night
1:45PM-10:15PM
(Dress like you would wear to a graduation or early evening wedding)
Third round of selections this evening. PNMs are deciding which houses they would like to preference. This of course does not mean this is what they get.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Pick up schedules from counselors @ 3:30 PM (max schedule of 3….but remember…it only takes one)
Preference Night
4:45PM-9:45PM
(Black Dresses….think “Little Black Dress” think classy)
PNMs make their final selections after the parties. Rank houses 1-2-3 if applicable.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Bid Day @ 5:00 PM Hogg Auditorium-
Recruitment counselor’s house affiliations will be revealed and girls will join their new member classes and walk as a group to their respective houses. (A note about Moms. UT has not branched into family bid day as of yet, but more and more moms have been attending as of late. Mainly for a quick house visit and a few pictures and then the NMs attend bid day activities with their new sisters. Trending off of 2012….more Moms than ever showed up for bid day.)
Cost
How much does it cost to be in a sorority at UT?
For the first year the cost range in dues is from $2600-$3900 in the new member year (Fall & Spring) For the following year, dues will fall to $2200-$2600. If you live in the sorority house, the cost to live in most houses, plus meals, plus dues will cost just a tad more than room and board at SRD or Hardin. So the first year is really where the majority of the costs are. There are also other costs for merchandise and t-shirts. It is easy to spend $500-$1000 your first year on this stuff alone. Of course that is optional, but the fact is most girls buy the stuff.
What are the best Sororities at UT?
No one on Greek Chat will answer that question, because no one here, or at UT, or in Austin, or Dallas, or Houston, would ever agree. The best sorority at UT is the one that you feel like you can grow as a person and have a great time. DO NOT GO INTO RECRUITMENT HAVING TO BE AN ‘ABC’. If you do that, it will end in failure. It does not matter if your best friend is an ABC and all of her sisters “love” you. She has 200 sisters (and you can't know them all) and the process is so more complex than that, so don’t drink that turnip juice. Also don’t go into recruitment just knowing you have to be ‘AB’ because your mom was an ‘AB’ at Northwestern in 1985. Being a legacy can matter, but the reality is there are more legacies going through UT recruitment than there are spaces for all the PNMs. All that legacy status will do is keep you in the game an extra round but the reality is if you aren’t a match for ‘AB’ then you just aren’t a match, you just get to carry the hope stick around an extra day. Now if your momma and your grandmother were involved Texas ‘ABCs’ then your legacy status probably holds a bit more water. And that is just the truth. Not all legacies are created equal.
Updated for 2013: Chapters are continuing to get stronger and stronger and the lines between the majority of houses are starting to blur more than ever.
The Six Elephants in the Room
There is not one conversation about UT recruitment where the term “Big 6” does not come up. Full disclosure. I don’t like the term. It was created by a lady named Prudence Mackintosh who at the time was writing for Texas Monthly. She named names and called out 6 sororities at UT (it was the 1970s people) and what made them special or not so special. Each of these houses is still special today and so are the 8 others that form the University Panhellenic Council.
There have been many young PNMs who have come and gone pledging their faithfulness to only accept a bid from a “Big 6” to only be disappointed by what they got. The same can be said about the other 8 too. On the other hand, there have been girls that have been disappointed in the moment, that all of the “Big 6” released them, only to pull their head out of the sand long enough to realize that an amazing sisterhood wanted them to be part of their group and her experience was life changing.
Updated for 2013: Like I stated above the lines between houses are really starting to blur. Frats that use to never mix with “non” Big 6 houses are branching out and continue to do so because the quality of women that are woven through the majority of UT chapters is so strong.
This will NEVER change: Reputation is a tricky thing. A good one can cover a flawed sisterhood and a bad one can cover a good one. Step wisely. Trust your heart.
Round Up
It over for this year so what’s done is done. I’ve been really busy and I am behind, but hopefully if you are reading this and you are in high school, you didn’t go and if you did, I hope you behaved.
Social Media-Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat
I am really going to expand on social media this year. Social Media can 100% make or break you. CLEAN UP YOUR FACEBOOK. If you have anything questionable in your photos, make them very private or better yet delete them. Same thing about comments. Not sure what about hiding behind a glass screen makes people throw their social filters out the window…but find yours and use it. A great number of women that attend UT know someone else at UT or went to High School with someone at UT. Bottom line, friends, friends of friends, people who ask your “friend” to show them your FB page…well they all exisit.
If you think that a sorority women can’t find you on facebook, instagram or
twitter, you live in the land naïve and sheltered. You will be stalked, hunted and researched before you ever step into the first chapter on Open House day. If you would be unhappy if your grandma saw it, then don’t post it.
Twitter-Awwww…..
Twitter. I don’t know what about
twitter makes people spew off their lips some of the ugliest things or racy things or drunk things I have ever read. And then they compound that by taking a picture of a night they will only remember by that exact photograph. The delete key is your friend. Use it. Or better yet, find your inner filter and use that so you don’t have to use your delete key.
Just for Moms
This will be a long week for you. Your daughter has left the nest and has been thrown into a stressful and gut wrenching situation. She will survive. I promise. And when the week is over and if she kept an open mind and properly prepared she will more than likely receive a bid....and when your baby girl has that bid card in her hand...what do you do? Celebrate her choice with her and don't micro-manage her recruitment. Now go buy her something. Here are the new kids on the greek merchandise block:
Melissa's Custom Gifts (Super close most of the chapters)
2116 Guadalupe Street
512-480-0305
Greek & Unique (you have to drive here from campus)
4107 Marathon
512-206-0011
2013 promises to be another blockbuster year for the Greek Community at the University of Texas. Best wishes for a successful recruitment goes out to all the PNMs, the sisters and advisors of all the chapters, the recruitment counselors, the young women in Panhellenic who run this week like a well oiled machine and roll with the punches and take things in stride.
Register Now for FREE!
As someone who writes up to several dozen recs a year, I REALLY appreciate the work that my organization has done to make that a reality.
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